Clive John Derby-Lewis (22 January 1936 – 3 November 2016) was a South African politician, who was involved first in the National Party and then, while serving as a member of parliament, in the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. In 1993 he was convicted of conspiracy to murder

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

leader

Chris Hani Chris Hani (28 June 1942 – 10 April 1993), born Martin Thembisile Hani , was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a fierce ...

and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. Derby-Lewis was described as a "right-wing extremist" by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''; and as someone who "even by South African standards...has acquired over the years a reputation as a rabid

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

" by journalist and South Africa commentator John Carlin.Hani suspect a key figure of far right: Former South African Conservative MP arrested in ANC murder inquiry is president of controversial London-based think-tank
''The Independent''. 18 April 1993 He was repeatedly denied parole after he began applying in 2010, after objections from the Hani family. After his parole was declined multiple times, his appeal was taken to court where the judge granted him medical parole on 29 May 2015. He was released from prison in June 2015 after serving 22 years, due to terminal

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. He died from the disease on 3 November 2016.

Background

Derby-Lewis, who was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, was a South African with German and Scots ancestry.Frontline
He grew up in Kimberley and was educated at the then- Christian Brothers' College. He articled as a chartered accountant and worked for both an accounting firm and an oil company; he also became an

Extraordinary minister of Holy Communion An extraordinary minister of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church is, under the 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'', "an acolyte, or another of Christ's faithful deputed", in certain extraordinary circumstances, to distribute Holy Communion. The term ...

at Blessed Sacrament Church in Johannesburg before he left the Catholic Church in the early 1980s. He later joined the

Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk The Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk (APK; ''Afrikaans Protestant Church''), also known as AP Kerk, is a South African conservative Reformed Church federation with about 35,000 adherents. The federation consists of 210-240 congregations, mostly in ...

(''English: Afrikaans Protestant Church''), notable as a staunch supporter of Apartheid. He spent nineteen years as a volunteer in the South African Citizen Force and became the youngest ever

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the

Witwatersrand Rifles Regiment The Bambatha Rifles (formerly the Witwatersrand Rifles) is a reserve mechanised infantry regiment of the South African Army. History Origin The Witwatersrand Rifles (often familiarly known as the "Wits Rifles or the Wit Rifles") was formed by ...

, affiliated with the Cameronians. He was awarded the

John Chard Medal The John Chard Medal is a military long service medal which was instituted by the Union of South Africa on 6 April 1952. Until 1986, it was awarded to members of the Citizen Force of the South African Defence Force for twelve years of efficient ...

for long and meritorious service.

Community and political history

Derby-Lewis joined the National Party and became a town councillor for

Bedfordview Bedfordview is an affluent suburb in western Ekurhuleni, sharing an administrative boundary with the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Bedfordview has been part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipalit ...

(1972–1977), Deputy Mayor (1973–1974) and ultimately Mayor (1974–1975), and was made a Freeman of the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Mini-Council. He served as the member representing

Edenvale, Gauteng Edenvale is a small city on the East Rand in Gauteng, South Africa. The greater Edenvale area has an estimated population of 70,000, including Greenstone, Harmelia, Highway Gardens, Buurendal and Croydon. Edenvale is part of the Ekurhuleni Metropol ...

, on the

Transvaal Provincial Council The Transvaal Provincial Council was the provincial council of the Transvaal Province in South Africa. It was created by the South Africa Act 1909, from the formation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910, and replaced the Transvaal Legisla ...

(1972–1981) where he spent several years as the National Party spokesman for Education and Hospital Services. He also served on the boards of numerous other bodies including hospitals, primary and high schools, and a school for physically challenged children. Through his involvement in politics, he met Gaye Derby-Lewis, a former nun originally from Australia. They married in 1986. This was his second marriage. Derby-Lewis had three children from his first marriage.

Parliamentary history

Derby-Lewis was a founder member of the Conservative Party at the time of its split from the National Party in 1982, due to a softening of the government's

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies of racial segregation. He was a member of the new party's General Council and Parliamentary Caucus until 1993. He also served on the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

Party Council, in addition to the council's Information and Financial Committee. Following his unsuccessful election bid in the

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west ...

constituency, Derby-Lewis was nominated as a member of parliament in 1987 (after the then constitution allowed for political parties to nominate members to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

, in addition to their elected representatives). Derby-Lewis served on a number of parliamentary committees. He also represented the Conservative Party on the Standing Committees of Parliament dealing with the Provincial Affairs of

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

, as well as Trade and Commerce. When the Conservative Party became the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

he was appointed Chief Spokesman on Economic Affairs, Technology and Mineral Affairs. He was the only member of the Conservative Party Parliamentary Caucus to have served in all four levels of government in South Africa. During his tenure in Parliament, Derby-Lewis and others in the Conservative Party were staunchly opposed by the anti-apartheid

Progressive Federal Party The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) ( af, Progressiewe Federale Party) was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For it ...

. In March 1988, Derby-Lewis was described by opposition leader

Harry Schwarz Harry Heinz Schwarz (13 May 1924 – 5 February 2010) was a South African lawyer, statesman and long-time political opposition leader against apartheid in South Africa, who eventually served as the South African Ambassador to the United States ...

as the "biggest racist in Parliament".http://www.samedia.uovs.ac.za/cgi-bin/getpdf?id=872348 Derby-Lewis lost his seat after the 1989 election, and was subsequently appointed to the State President's Council, an advisory group, where he served as a member of the Economic Affairs and the Amenities Committees. He visited London twice in an official Conservative Party of South Africa delegation, including that of June 1989, which included their leader, Dr.

Andries Treurnicht Andries Petrus Treurnicht (19 February 1921 – 22 April 1993) was a South African politician, Minister of Education during the Soweto Riots and for a short time leader of the National Party in Transvaal. In 1982 he founded and led the Conser ...

and

party chief Carl Werth. About that time he joined the London-based

Western Goals Institute Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a Far-right politics, far-right pressure group and think-tank in Britain, formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation.''Labour Research'', N ...

as an honorary Vice-President, and was one of their delegation to the 22nd

World Anti-Communist League The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-sh ...

Conference in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in July 1990. During his political career Derby-Lewis had a long history of racially inflammatory remarks, a number of which were considered off-putting even by his Conservative Party colleagues who themselves favoured a racially divided South Africa. In 1989 he claimed in Parliament that "If AIDS stops Black population growth it will be like

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

." He was also overheard in 1989 remarking "What a pity" in response to a report by a minister that an aircraft had had to brake to avoid a black man on the runway at Johannesburg's airport (he later apologised, alleging that the comment had just "slipped out"). Commenting on this, Andries Beyers (a senior Conservative Party official at the time) said: "I think sometimes he became an embarrassment to us. He was very, very hardline. He had a calling to bring English-speakers to the CP, but his personal style put them off."

Assassination of Chris Hani

After the arrest of

Janusz Waluś Janusz Jakub Waluś ( , ; born 14 January 1953) is a Goral Polish right-wing extremist convicted of the 1993 assassination of Chris Hani, General Secretary of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), th ...

, a Polish immigrant to South Africa, for the assassination on 10 April 1993 of Chris Hani (

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

and leader of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

' military wing), it appeared that Derby-Lewis was involved. He had abetted Waluś and had aided him by delivering him the gun used in the assassination. A list of senior ANC and

figures had been developed allegedly by Arthur Kemp and included

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

and

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

. In October 1993, Derby-Lewis was convicted of conspiracy to murder and

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for his role in the assassination. The sentence was commuted to

when capital punishment was outlawed in 1995. Derby-Lewis confessed his role in the assassination in his application to the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

for

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

and there he said that the assassination was encouraged or sanctioned by senior leaders of the Conservative Party. In his defence, Derby-Lewis said that he was acting "in defence of my people, who were threatened with a Communist take-over." He added that his Christian faith within the Afrikaanse Protestant Church was central to his decision: "As a Christian, my first duty is to the Almighty God before everything else. We were fighting against communism, and communism is the vehicle of the Antichrist." The amnesty application was denied in April 1999. In 2000, the Cape High Court dismissed an application by Derby-Lewis and Waluś to overturn the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's decision. Derby-Lewis applied in June 2010 for parole, on the grounds that he was over 70, and was entitled to parole in terms of South African law for having served more than 15 years in prison. The following November, Derby-Lewis' lawyer reported that Derby-Lewis was receiving treatment for skin cancer and prostate cancer, hypertension, and for a gangrenous spot in his leg. On three further occasions (2011, 2013, and 2015) Derby-Lewis was denied medical parole. According to his representative advocate Roelof du Plessis: "The recommendation of the medical parole advisory board refers to a stage 3b cancer of the right lung with probable or inconclusive spread to the left adrenal glands, is inoperable and there is marginal response to concurrent chemo and radiotherapy with poor prognostic features". He died in November 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Derby-Lewis, Clive 1936 births 2016 deaths South African anti-communists Politicians from Cape Town Afrikaner people South African people of Scottish descent South African people of German descent Apartheid in South Africa South African assassins South African people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by South Africa South African prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by South Africa Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by South Africa South African politicians convicted of crimes National Party (South Africa) politicians Conservative Party (South Africa) politicians Politicians convicted of murder People who testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) Deaths from cancer in South Africa